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NO. COA11-713 NORTH CAROLINA COURT OF APPEALS Filed: 6 December 2011 UNITRIN AUTO AND HOME INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. GREGORY SCOTT RIKARD, Executor of the Estate of DELBERT RIKARD and CAROLYN RIKARD, Defendants. Cleveland County No. 09 CVS 2238

Appeal by Defendants from judgment entered 23 February 2011 by Judge Richard L. Doughton in Cleveland County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 9 November 2011. Brotherton Ford Yeoman Berry & Weaver, PLLC, by Joseph F. Brotherton and Steven P. Weaver, for Plaintiff. Cerwin Law Firm, P.C., by Todd R. Cerwin, for Defendants. STEPHENS, Judge. This appeal arises from a car accident which occurred on 25 November 2008 near Shelby. seventy-two-year-old Delbert On that date, the car in which Rikard and his seventy-year-old

wife, Carolyn (collectively, "the Rikards"), were traveling was struck head-on by a car owned by Martha Bennett Allen and driven

-2by Bristol Michelle Leonhardt. The Rikards were seriously

injured and endured lengthy hospitalizations, incurring damages in excess of the available liability The limits of Allen's then and and

Leonhardt's additional

insurance coverage

policies. from

Rickards

sought Home

Plaintiff

Unitrin

Auto

Insurance Company ("Unitrin"). Unitrin insured the Rikards under a combined auto and

homeowners liability insurance policy with effective dates of 26 January 2008 through page 26 of January the 2009 policy ("the policy"). The

declarations

provides

combined

uninsured/underinsured ("UM/UIM") motorist coverage of $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident. Delbert Rikard first Thereafter,

obtained insurance coverage from Unitrin in 2003.

Unitrin mailed the Rikards annual renewal packets, each of which contained a declarations page. The declarations page for the

policy listed seven attached endorsements including Endorsement AK3847, titled "UM/UIM Rejection/Selection." appears in the policy blank and Endorsement AK3847 Each time he

uncompleted.

received a renewal packet, Delbert Rickard paid the premium bill which arrived by separate mailing and received proof the of

insurance cards for his vehicles, but never read endorsements or signed Endorsement AK3847.

policy

-3On 2 September 2009, Unitrin filed a complaint against the Rickards, seeking a declaration of the limits of UIM coverage available to them under the policy. Unitrin asserted that,

because the Rickards never selected a higher UIM amount, the statutory default amount applied. The Rickards contended that,

because Unitrin never properly notified them of their option to select a higher UIM amount, they were entitled to the maximum coverage amount. On 3 May 2010, Unitrin moved for summary judgment, which motion the court denied. On 28 November 2010, Delbert Rickard

died, and on 19 January 2011, the trial court entered a consent order substituting Defendant Gregory Scott Rikard, Delbert

Rickard's son and executor of his estate, as a defendant in this action. Following a bench trial, the court entered judgment on

23 February 2011, concluding, inter alia, that Unitrin "provided [the Rikards] with multiple opportunities to select or reject underinsured motorist coverage" by including Endorsement AK3847 in Unitrin's annual policy renewal mailings. court concluded applied this that the statutory the is policy. not default As a result, the amount of UIM

coverage contending

under

Defendants by the

appeal, court's

conclusion We affirm.

supported

findings of fact.

-4On appeal from a bench trial, we review only "whether there is competent evidence to support the trial court's findings of fact and whether the findings support the conclusions of law and ensuing judgment." Sessler v. Marsh, 144 N.C. App. 623, 628,

551 S.E.2d 160, 163 (citation omitted), disc. review denied, 354 N.C. 365, 556 S.E.2d 577 (2001). The Financial Responsibility Act (the "Act") mandates that an insured must be notified of the option to select UIM coverage "in an amount not to be less than the financial responsibility amounts for bodily injury liability as set forth in G.S. 20279.5 [$25,000 and $50,000] nor greater than one million The Act

dollars."

N.C. Gen. Stat.

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